Owing to its scientific and technological importance, crystallization as a ubiquitous phenomenon has been widely studied over centuries. Well-developed single crystals are generally enclosed by regular flat facets spontaneously to form polyhedral morphologies because of the well-known self-confinement principle for crystal growth. However, in nature, complex single crystalline calcitic skeleton of biological organisms generally has a curved external surface formed by specific interactions between organic moieties and biocompatible minerals. Here we show a new class of crystal surface of TiO 2 , which is enclosed by quasi continuous high-index microfacets and thus has a unique truncated biconic morphology. Such single crystals may open a new direction for crystal growth study since, in principle, crystal growth rates of all facets between two normal {101} and {011} crystal surfaces are almost identical. In other words, the facet with continuous Miller index can exist because of the continuous curvature on the crystal surface.
Rapid sampling and multicomponent detection are crucial for monitoring of pesticide residues analysis. Here, a gecko-inspired nanotentacle surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (G-SERS) platform is proposed for the first time for the simultaneous detection of three kinds of pesticides via a simple and intuitive "press and peeled-off" approach. The G-SERS platform obtained from seeding deposition of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) on 3D PDMS nanotentacle array is flexible and free-standing. Compared with other substrates, this G-SERS substrate can simultaneously provide outstanding SERS activity (enhancement factor = 1.2 × 10), superior reproducibility (RSD = 5.8%) and countless flexible nanoscale "tentacles" (∼6.7 × 10/cm). Moreover, the high density of "tentacles" can freely approach the microarea and enable efficient target collection, which were confirmed by SEM and HPLC. By direct sampling from cucumber, apple, and grape surfaces, thiram (TMTD), methyl parathion (MPT), malachite green (MG), and their multiple components have been rapidly and reliably determined. For example, under the optimal conditions, a sensitivity of 1.6 ng/cm (S/N = 3) for TMTD was obtained on apple peels with a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.99. Therefore, the G-SERS substrate could offer a great practical potential for on-spot identification of various pesticide residues on real samples.
As one of the most common chemical materials, titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been prepared and widely used for many years. Among all the applications, the biomedical applications of TiO2 have motivated strong interest and intensive experimental and theoretical studies, owing to its unique photocatalytic properties, excellent biocompatibility, high chemical stability, and low toxicity. Advances in nanoscale science suggest that some of the current problems of life science could be resolved or greatly improved through applying TiO2. This paper presents a critical review of recent advances in the biomedical applications of TiO2, which includes the photodynamic therapy for cancer treatment, drug delivery systems, cell imaging, biosensors for biological assay, and genetic engineering. The characterizations and applications of TiO2 nanoparticles, as well as nanocomposites and nanosystems of TiO2, which have been prepared by different modifications to improve the function of TiO2, are also offered in this review. Additionally, some perspectives on the challenges and new directions for future research in this emerging frontier are discussed.
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